Wednesday, 20 February 2013

“Up then, fair phoenix bride, frustrate the sun;Thyself from thine affectionTakest warmth enough, and from thine eyeAll lesser birds will take their jollity.Up, up, fair bride, and callThy stars from out their several boxes, takeThy rubies, pearls, and diamonds forth, and makeThyself a constellation of them all;And by their blazing signifyThat a great princess falls, but doth not die.Be thou a new star, that to us portendsEnds of much wonder; and be thou those ends.”

John Donne

This miniature is a commission piece for a client. It is set on Istavan III at a crisis moment for the Primarch. He stands on the precipice of the greatest betrayl in human history and the betrayal of his closest friend. I wanted to represent the Primarch as a haughty aristocratic figure, nimble and refined. He is slighter than the guady creations of the Astrates but he still maintains that indefatigable aura of one of the First sons of the Emperor.

I wanted Fulgrim to stand on a barren outcrop, an outward marker of Fulgrim's inner sickness. Despite the refinement, the trappings of civilisation and the exaltation of human cultural achievements, Fulgrim is ultimately a flawed creation, a being of light but not heat.

I painted portions of the armour (chest guard, and hands groping at his knees and shoulders) in a mother of pearl effect and created a freehand Phoenix on the back of his cloak.

I hope that Callum enjoys his new commander and hopefully we will be seeing a lot more Heresy era Emperor's Children soon!